Affiliations: [a]
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan
| [b]
Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
| [c]
Graduate School of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Osaka University, Japan
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondin author: Ralf Bebenroth, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan. E-mail: rbeben@rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp.
Abstract: This study contributes to the understanding of how target firm employees perceive organizational change after a cross-border acquisition. Based on the tenets of the group engagement model, we pick procedural and interpersonal justice and investigate how it influences the organizational identification of target employees. We extend previous findings from the literature, that employees who are treated better have a higher organizational identification to the new firm. Overall we find that procedural justice matters more to target employees than interpersonal justice does. Furthermore, while procedural justice matters earlier at the post-acquisition integration, interpersonal justice becomes more salient a year after the deal. Managers are therefore advised to inform their target employees immediately after the deal about procedures, and especially about their (possible) future stay at the new firm. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
